The Symphony

The Symphony Lyrics

[Intro: Marley Marl]
I don't care who's first and who last
But I know that y'all just better
Rock this at the drop of a dime baby
I don't know what y'all gon' do with this, but it got to be funky
It got to be funky if you're gonna be on it
I don't care who start
I don't care what y'all do
But you got to be finished
Before the music is through
Now who's first up to bat?

This song has been locked and is considered "done." You need 600 IQ to add annotations to locked songs.

What have the artists said about the song?

I was told by my manager at the time that Marley Marl wanted me to come to the crib. When I got there, Masta Ace and Craig G were there, but Big Daddy Kane wasn’t. Craig G and Ace had laid verses. Marley was like, ‘Yo G, I need a strong verse on this.’ So I do a long ass verse. The verse I put on there was the verse that you hear on ‘The Symphony’ connected to the first verse of ‘Men At Work.’ The tape ran off the rail so I had to shorten it.

“These were the days when I would just write long ass verses in case I ever needed them for a cypher. I always kept an arsenal for when I needed it. Like one time, me, Kane, and L.L. Cool J were in a hotel room in Los Angeles spitting rhymes in a cypher. We must have spit like five verses apiece. I would just have the beat in my head when I wrote, and then when it came time to record I would see what verse fit the track the best.

I am a little less prepared these days, because there is no need. I became more of an on the spot type of writer. If somebody wants me to come to the studio now, I write the verse then and there and lay down a classic.

I was still there when Kane laid his verse down. When I heard that line, ‘Quarter in your ass cause you played yourself,’ I was like, ‘Oh shit, Kane killed that fucking line.’ He caught it on that song crazy.

It’s an honor for me to be a part of something that people hold that dear in hip hop history. It made legends."